The Heisman Trophy is the most prestigious individual award in college sports. Certain schools have a knack for finding Heisman-level talent over others. Show While there’s some luck involved with recruiting and development, it’s no mistake that the schools with many Heisman winners include several of the biggest programs in college football. In the end, some of the schools with the most Heiman talent may surprise you. College football programs that nearly made the Heisman listSix different schools have produced three Heisman winners: Army, Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Michigan, and Nebraska. From Cam Newton and Bo Jackson out of Auburn to Tim Tebow out of Florida, the names run the gamut of NFL icons and college stars who didn’t quite pan out. Some, like Jamis Winston, are still finding their place in the NFL. USC*: 6 Heisman Trophy winners*USC would be higher on the list had Reggie Bush not vacated his Heisman Trophy following the scandal involving the college football star getting improper benefits from boosters while at the school. Still, while Bush’s name may have been stripped from the official books, we can’t deny that he did hold the award at one time. In spite of Bush, USC’s Matt Leinart, Carson Palmer, Marcus Allen, Charles White, OJ Simpson, and Mike Garrett all won the award in a 40-year time span. The fact that Simpson is still on the list while Bush is not says something about the NCAA’s priorities. Ohio State: 6 Heisman Trophy winnersOhio State’s six Heisman winners come with a special caveat thanks to Archie Griffin. The college football star remains the only player in the history of the award to be named Heisman winner two years in a row. As more players split for the NFL sooner, he may keep this award for years to come. On top of Griffin, five other names show that Ohio State has produced winners throughout several eras. Les Horvath and Vic Janowicz kicked off the ’40s and ’50s with wins. Howard Cassady won in 1955. Griffin was next, followed by a win by Eddie George in 1995 and Troy Smith in 2006. If history taught us one thing, it’s that Ohio is due for another winner. Oklahoma: 7 Heisman Trophy winnersOklahoma slid from two behind in the all-time rankings to tied for the lead in the last two seasons. Their ability to attract reigning Heisman winner Kyler Murray and former winner Baker Mayfield shows the program’s superiority. Interestingly, the last two Heisman winners also came to Oklahoma via transfers from Texas Tech and Texas A&M, respectively. Before those two, it’d been nearly a decade since a Sooner won the trophy (since Sam Bradford in 2008). Jason White won in 2003, but we have to go back decades for the other three names. Billy Sims won in 1978, Steve Owens in 1969, and Billy Vessels in 1952. If Jalen Hurts keeps up his season, too, the Sooners may top the rankings again. Notre Dame: 7 Heisman Trophy winnersDespite being on top of the list, Notre Dame’s winners are mostly from a bygone era. Tim Brown was the last player to win the award in 1987, and he went on to have a Hall of Fame NFL career to go with his Hall of Fame collegiate one. Before Brown, however, the list goes back another 23 years. John Huarte won the 1964 Heisman trophy, and the names before him all won within a 13-year period of each other. The first Irish player to win the award was Angelo Bertelli in 1943. Then, it was Leon Johnny Lujack and Leon Hart in 1947 and 1949 respectively. Finally, Johnny Lattner and Paul Hornung won in 1953 and 1956. While Notre Dame hasn’t had as much Heisman success recently, the school shows it can remain a storied football program. The Heisman Trophy, one of the highest individual awards in American college football, has been awarded 86 times since its creation in 1935, including 85 unique winners and one two-time winner. The trophy is given annually to the most outstanding college football player in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), and is awarded by the Heisman Trust, successors of the awards from the Downtown Athletic Club at an annual ceremony.
In 1935, the award, then known as the DAC Trophy, was created by New York City's Downtown Athletic Club to recognize the best college football player "east of the Mississippi River".[1] In that inaugural year, the award went to Jay Berwanger from the University of Chicago. Berwanger was later drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League but declined to sign for them. He never played professional football for any team, instead choosing to pursue a career in business.[2] In 1936, the club's athletic director, football pioneer John Heisman, died and the trophy was renamed in his honor. Larry Kelley, the second winner of the award, was the first to win it as the "Heisman Trophy".[3] In addition to the name change, the award also became a nationwide achievement. With the new name, players west of the Mississippi became eligible; the first player from the western United States was selected in 1938, TCU quarterback Davey O'Brien.[1] On June 10, 2010, following several years of investigation, the NCAA announced that USC running back Reggie Bush, the 2005 Heisman trophy winner, received gifts from agents while still in college. The university received major sanctions,[4][5] and there were reports that the Heisman Trophy Trust would strip his award.[6] In September of that year, Bush voluntarily forfeited his title as the 2005 winner. The Heisman Trust decided to leave the award vacated with no new winner to be announced for the season.[7] A school has had a Heisman winner in back-to-back years six times, though one of those awards is Bush's forfeited trophy (Yale 1936–37, Army 1945–46, Ohio State 1974–75, USC 2004–05, Oklahoma 2017–18 and Alabama 2020–21). Only one player, Ohio State's Archie Griffin, has won the award twice.[8] Oklahoma is the only school to have two players win the award in back-to-back years playing the same position (quarterbacks Baker Mayfield followed by Kyler Murray).
Between 1936 and 2001, the award was given at an annual gala ceremony at the Downtown Athletic Club in New York City. The Downtown Athletic Club's facilities were damaged during the September 11, 2001 attacks. Due to financial difficulties stemming from the damage, the DAC declared bankruptcy in 2002, turning over its building to creditors. Following the club's bankruptcy and the loss of the original Downtown Athletic Club building,[9] the Yale Club of New York City assumed presenting honors in 2002 and 2003.[10][11] The ceremony was moved to the New York Marriott Marquis in Times Square for the 2002, 2003, and 2004 presentations. Between 2005 and 2019, the event was held at PlayStation Theater in Times Square.[12] The move to the PlayStation Theater allowed the Downtown Athletic Club (and ultimately, the award's successor, The Heisman Trust) to resume full control of the event (the most prominent example of which was the return of the official portraits of past winners), despite the loss of the original presentation hall.[13] Shortly after the 2019 ceremony was held, the PlayStation Theater was permanently closed; as a result, the Heisman Trust began searching for a new location to conduct the trophy presentation. The 2020 ceremony would ultimately be held at the studios of ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the ceremony being held on January 5, 2021.[14] In terms of balloting, the fifty states of the U.S. are split into six regions (Far West, Mid Atlantic, Mid West, North East, South, South West), and six regional representatives are selected to appoint voters in their states.[15] Each region has 145 media votes, for a total of 870 votes. In addition, all previous Heisman winners may vote, and one final vote is counted through public balloting. The Heisman ballots contain a 3-2-1 point system, in which each ballot ranks the voter's top three players and awards them three points for a first-place vote, two points for a second-place vote, and one point for a third-place vote. The points are tabulated, and the player with the highest total of points across all ballots wins the Heisman Trophy.[16] — — — — — — — — —
This is a list of the colleges and universities who have had a player win a Heisman trophy. Ohio State, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame are tied for the most trophies at 7 each. USC also previously had 7 winners but the 2005 award was vacated, leaving their official total at 6. Ohio State has the distinction of the only two-time winner, Archie Griffin, leaving their total players to have won the trophy at six. In total, players from 40 schools have won a Heisman Trophy, while 19 schools have more than one trophy.
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